Many players and Elden Ring fans celebrated the Soulslike game’s first anniversary not too long ago, but the game is still shrouded in apparent mystery. While there are some unresolved mysteries in Elden Ring, only players who are deeply into the lore will know about them. Casuals, however, don’t even know they exist. In fact, there is still much of the lore casual players don’t know too much about unless they read up on it.
They do, however, know there are some characters that are just lovable and others that just aren’t. Blaidd is one of those characters, in the lovable sense, of course. Even among well-known characters and bosses such as Ranni the Witch and Malenia, Elden Ring players just love Blaidd.
However, it seems as though there are situations when Blaidd is a little less than excited to see the player’s character. Players have reported that Blaidd eventually may start attacking the player for no discernible reason. And this is where you might ask yourself the question: why does Blaidd attack you?
Well, there are a few reasons why, and they might be connected to the lore or your in-game actions. Elden Ring sure does love changing and shaping the world around you to show you the consequences of your choices. Anyway, let’s find out why Blaidd attacks you in Elden Ring!
Blaidd – Quick Introduction
Blaidd is a half-man, half-wolf NPC who is the close companion of Ranni the Witch. He towers over the player character in height and sports a big, fancy greatsword with an intricate design and runes inscribed into it.
With the head of a wolf and the body of a man, Blaidd sports a cape that covers most of the back of his body. In the front, he simply wears some slightly rusty armor. Overall, the character’s appearance is very edgy, which may be what gained him popularity with the fanbase, too.
You can find Blaidd in the Mistwood Ruins, where you will hear his howl. He may eventually move around to Siofra River, Redmane Castle, and Three Sisters. Still, he’s pretty hard to miss, what with being so tall and scary.
Blaidd also offers the player a quest, where you must help him find a man named Darriwil. This will require you to head to the Forlorn Hound Evergaol, where you must fight Darriwil with the help of Blaidd. After this, he will give you a Somber Smithing stone and, if you talk to him again, send you off to the Manor in Liurnia, where you can procure a Carian Filigreed Crest.
Blaidd is also an important character in Ranni’s questline, considering he is her guardian and companion.
The Lore and Background of Blaidd’s Attacks
So why does Blaidd attack you? Depending on what you’ve done so far in the game, there are several reasons why.
For example, if you’ve killed any of the large rune bears in the game before meeting Blaidd, he will become hostile toward the player. There is no lore-specific reasoning to this, and it might even just be a bug in the game’s coding. However, there is a way to prevent this from happening, allowing you to safely kill rune bears. We’ll get back to this later on.
Another reason why Blaidd may attack you is simply because you attacked him more than a few times. Most Elden Ring NPCs have a tolerance level for being attacked once or twice, but striking them any further will result in the NPC attempting to defend themselves. This is also the case with Blaidd. We’ll provide a fix for this mistake you may have made later on, too.
Finally, the last reason why Blaidd may attack you ties directly into the lore of the game itself. According to the lore, Blaidd was created to be Ranni’s guardian, meaning his sole purpose is to protect her. Unfortunately, he was also created to kill Ranni if she tried to harm the Greater Will.
Once you do Ranni’s quest and visit the Lake of Rot, Blaidd will always ambush you in front of the tower. There’s nothing you can do to prevent this from happening, as this is part of the game’s lore. Unfortunately, you must kill Blaidd to be able to progress further into the game.
There are many player theories why Blaidd turns hostile toward the player in this part of the quest. Some say that it’s because he went insane trying to go against orders, while others think Blaidd is jealous of the player’s relationship with Ranni. It’s a debate that has no clear answer in the end, although the end result is still the same.
Tips for Surviving Blaidd’s Encounters in Elden Ring
Players can choose to reset Blaidd’s Aggression or, if this is not possible, even kill him.
Resetting Blaidd’s Aggression
In case you killed a rune bear before encountering Blaidd, you’ll be happy to hear there is a way to reset his aggression. All you have to do is visit the Church of Vows and use a Celestial Dew, which will reset his aggression. Still, your best bet is to completely avoid all combat before meeting the man-wolf hybrid to avoid an unnecessary trip to the Church of Vows. However, if you hear him howl, you could presumably attack and kill a rune bear with no repercussions.
If you happen to have attacked Blaidd, the path to resetting his aggression is the same. Go back to the Church of Vows, use a Celestial Dew, and you can regain his questline with no issues.
Finally, if Blaidd has become hostile to you and using the Celestial Dew doesn’t help, you may have to kill him. Fortunately, we have a few tips for surviving this encounter with the man-wolf hybrid.
How to beat Blaidd in Elden Ring
Blaidd can have anywhere between 1500 to 3200 HP, making him one of the easier fights in the game. Although he is nowhere near the top of the food chain in terms of Elden Ring bosses, his fight can still become a difficult one for newbie players.
This is because it’s impossible to stagger Blaidd. However, he can be poise-broken and is vulnerable to a riposte afterward. If you’re looking to parry him, you need to hit 2 parries before breaking Blaidd’s stance. After this, you can riposte him. Other than this, players have made many different strategies to cheese the fight.
Reddit user despereanx shared their experience:
Another user, MrMuscles89, commented:
Poison Mist is an interesting way to cheese a boss, so props to MrMuscles89!
Many players also found luring Blaidd to the elevator and knocking him down the elevator shaft will instantly kill him due to fall damage. Talk about a creative solution, right?
Killing Blaidd drops his whole gear set, including Armor, Gauntlets, Greaves, and his Greatsword. Overall, Blaidd’s set gives a total Phy rating of 28.5, 91 Immunity, 169 Robustness, and 60 Focus, Vitality, and Poise. However, the armor set has a 32.7 Weight rating.
So there you have it, an answer to why does Blaidd attack you in Elden Ring!
